Cosmetology Teacher

Instruct students about various beauty techniques.

Quick Stats

Salary Range

$28,000 – $85,000

Data from U.S. Department of Labor

What do Cosmetology Teachers do?

It’s not easy being beautiful. Even harder, however, is “teaching” beautiful. Still, that’s the job of Cosmetology Teachers: They teach and train future Cosmetologists, instructing them on how to make people — their paying customers and clients — more beautiful.

As a Cosmetology Teacher, you’re employed by independent as well as franchised cosmetology schools, not to mention vocational schools, technical colleges, and professional training institutes. You accomplish your job using a combination of instruction, demonstration, and critique, with your typical course including not only lecture components but also hands-on workshops and evaluations, during which you describe, explain, model, and appraise different cosmetology techniques.

You might teach courses in your area of expertise — for instance, hairstyling, makeup, skin care, or nail care — or you might teach courses on other, more general industry topics, such as health and sanitation, business practices, salon management, or cosmetology laws and regulations. Always, however, your duties as a Cosmetology Teacher include determining course curriculum, developing lesson plans, teaching classes, selecting visual aids (doll heads versus live Models, for instance), assigning and grading homework assignments and tests, supervising practice sessions, and serving as a Coach or mentor for your students, who look to you for advice, encouragement, and constructive criticism.

Although it’s true what they say — beauty is in the eye of the beholder — it’s nonetheless up to you to establish objective standards for evaluating students in subjective matters like hairstyling and makeup artistry. After all, the end result of cosmetology school typically is an objective licensing exam, and your number one job is giving your students the skills they need to pass it.

Should I be a Cosmetology Teacher?

You should have
an
associate's
degree or higher and share these traits:

Independent:
You enjoy flying solo and doing things your own way.

Reliable:
You can always be counted on to do a good job.

Ready for a Challenge:
You jump into new projects with initiative and drive.